Plymouth restaurant has outdoor entertainment license suspended

Wednesday

Jul 2, 2014 at 9:42 AMJul 2, 2014 at 5:47 PM

PLYMOUTH – After hearing a litany of complaints from its waterfront restaurant neighbors and reports of fire code violations, the selectmen on Tuesday suspended the outdoor entertainment license of Nix’s Plymouth for six weeks and promised more serious penalties if the problems aren't corrected.

Town Manager Melissa Arrighi focused first on noise complaints, and the town’s assertion that the outdoor entertainment permit issued to Nix’s a year ago, was for the back “ocean-facing” patio, not the small patio near their entrance.

The town issued a cease and desist affecting the front patio in June, Arrighi explained, and Nix’s was originally expected to speak to that issue at a meeting of the selectmen later this month. But since that time additional “troubling” complaints had been received, prompting the meeting Tuesday night.

Police Chief Michael Botieri prefaced his remarks by saying that he understood that many establishments like Nix’s face problems with drug use and disorderly conduct, but that he was largely concerned with the waterfront restaurant’s response.

“We are always available to meet with (restaurant management),” Botieri said, “and want to have the kind of relationship where staff just pick up the phone and call us when there’s a problem. We need to be called. But on a few occasions we are not getting that call.”

“In January, without going into detail, there was a drug incident, an overdose, and we were so concerned that we called for a meeting with the general manager,” Botieri explained.

At that meeting, Botieri said, he stressed the importance calling when incidents occur, explained how they might go about requesting special police details, offered narcotics training and asked that they keep in touch with his department.

“I know one of their main issues is that they are changing managers,” Botieri said, “but neither I or Captain Rogers heard back from them after that January meeting.”

Botieri made a point of personally visiting the facility and said that, among other issues, he was concerned with the use of the alleyway between Nix’s and CabbyShack.

While it was likely legal, and within its right to use the alleyway as a separate entrance point for the back patio, the chief said he thought it “encouraged bad behavior.”

“It doesn’t look or feel right,” Botieri said. “There shouldn’t be separate access. It may be in their permit, but the police department has issues with it.”

Fire Chief Ed Bradley then detailed the results of various inspections and walk-throughs by fire department and code enforcement officials, following complaints that had been forwarded to the department from the town hall.

A joint inspection by fire department and code enforcement officials found a number of fire code violations, including: failure to maintain the fire protection system, failure to install and maintain fire extinguishers, failure to maintain emergency and exit lighting; failure to comply with the requirement for a building safety code checklist and to provide crowd management.

“After the Station One nightclub fire,” Bradley explained the crowd management regulations, “restaurant staff must be trained in crowd management and recertified every three years.”

Every day, before opening, a building safety checklist must be performed.

There needs to be at least one trained crowd control manager for every 250 patrons. The total capacity for Nix’s Plymouth is 442.

Bradley explained that, as these are fire code violations, “technically, I can’t sign off on their renewal permit of inspection, which puts their liquor license in danger.”

And Bradley added that a walk through Tuesday morning, four days after the code violations had been discovered, showed little progress had been made to correct the violations.

The meeting then continued, with comments from the managers of the restaurants around Nix’s – CabbyShack, Anna’s Harborside, and the Plimoth Bay Café, who offered disturbing reports of what is clearly a poor relationship between those establishments and Nix’s.

At the end of the evening, after hearing from Nix’s attorney, Steven Triffletti, the selectmen voted unanimously to suspend the restaurants outdoor entertainment license for six weeks.

“I have been part of hearings like this for 20 years,” Chairman Ken Tavares said. “And this is probably one of the worst set of complaints that I have heard in many, many years. “This is your opportunity to show your neighbors that you can do better,” Tavares said after the vote. “ Please do your best.”